2020+ CHIBI COLLECTION by the New Zealand Mint A phenomenon that has travelled far from its Japanese homeland, Chibi (ちび or チビ) is slang for 'short' and is applied to various pop culture genres today. Chief amongst those are the small, chubby caricatures with their tiny bodies and over-sized heads – also called super-deformed (SD). A popular style in anime and manga, and also with the Funko figures that are seemingly everywhere these days, we’re actually surprised the concept has taken this long to hit the numismatic world. If anyone was going to do it, [...]

2021 OLD TOWN SQUARE EXECUTION by the Czech Mint One thing the coin producers in Eastern Europe do very well showcase their history. Much of it is largely unknown in the West, but it's a rich, deep and often tragic one that is filled with themes and events ripe for numismatic attention. One such event happened 400 years ago in the capital of what is now the Czech Republic, Prague.Starting early on a June morning in 1621, 27 Czech Lords, Knights and Burghers were executed after taking part in a failed uprising against the Habsburg [...]

2020-2022 MYTHICAL CREATURES by the Czech Mint Our love for the mythical beasts of ancient lore has never been higher. With modern mega-budget movies like the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter drawing in huge audiences, as well as the new legends that are inherent parts of the various superhero universes, the weird and fantastical remains a popular escape from the day to day life most of us lead today. There’s no substitute for the old legends, however, dreamed up in a time where belief trumped logic in the popular mindset. Tapping into [...]

DINOSAURS (2020-2021) by the New Zealand Mint One of several dinosaur series on the go through 2020, the New Zealand Mint's aptly named 'Dinosaurs' series leverages the mints antiqued and coloured one-ounce silver coin format to do the honours. They've used the style successfully on a few previous issues that we really liked, including the excellent 'Warriors of History; and 'Battles That Changed History' history ranges. The mint doesn't produce as many ranges like this anymore, having moved primarily into big pop-culture and media franchises. These are pretty coins exhibiting some decent, if unspectacular artwork.They [...]

2019+ ANIMAL CHAMPIONS by the Czech Mint A very nice series from the Czech Mint, Animal Champions has for its subject the record breaking creatures that push the envelopes of just what is possible in the natural world. The biggest, fastest, strongest of their types are represented, and done so in a striking style. Each coin is antique-finished and is struck in an ounce of fine silver. They're quite a standard format, eschewing colour, high-relief and inserts,and as a result are relatively affordable. The first year of release was 2019 and encompassed four issues, [...]

2019 HARRY POTTER: HOGWARTS HOUSES by New Zealand Mint Following the Crown Mint's launch of its new eight-coin series of Harry Potter character coins, it came as a surprise to learn that the New Zealand Mint were also to debut a whole range of similarly themed issues. We've noticed the spread of media franchises in the numismatic world is often convoluted, so I guess we really shouldn't be so nonplussed. The NZ Mint has taken a clever approach to the licence with a beautifully artistic set of four, five-gram silver foils that feature the heraldry of the [...]

2019 INVENTIONS OF LEONARDO by the Czech Mint Renaissance genius Leonardo Da Vinci is no stranger to the coin world and it’s easy to see why. A huge body of incredible artwork and astounding inventions are a veritable visual feast and make splendid numismatics. To date, the vast majority of coins featuring the mans work have stayed firmly in the artistic sphere, but the Czech Mint have chosen to showcase Da Vinci’s engineering skills, especially in works that led to advances in warfighting. Designed by Asamat Baltaev, the medal maker responsible for the beautiful Jules [...]

2019 MAGIC THE GATHERING by New Zealand Mint The selection of subjects appearing on the relatively new silver foil format continues to increase with the arrival of cult card game Magic the Gathering. The New Zealand Mint has previously issued two 1oz silver coins, with a considerable gap between them, but neither seem to have set the market on fire with their popularity. Given the game is all about images on cards, perhaps the mint will have more success with the cheaper and more appealing banknote-style foils. Of the mints three main silver foil [...]

2019 STAR TREK NEXT GENERATION by New Zealand Mint Another of the New Zealand Mint's many silver foil series featuring their numerous licenced media franchises, Star Trek Next Generation has itself appeared previously on a pretty neat Juan Ortiz penned 'poster' set, but the set we're looking at here is a sequel to the Star Trek Original Series character foils released a last year.Each of the five-gram, 150 x 70 mm silver foils is in a banknote ratio format, and carries a common obverse (these are denominated as a coin, unlike some other foils, even from [...]

2018-2020 STAR WARS MOVIE POSTER FOILS by the New Zealand Mint There’s no doubt that the New Zealand Mint are now the biggest proponents of the fledgling silver foil format. It could be argued that the format was first popularised by the European producer CIT Coin Invest, but the NZ Mint have the biggest selection on offer at the moment. Relatively cheap to design and produce, mints are more likely to take a chance with releasing a foil instead of a coin as the risks are less. Star Wars issued can't really be considered a [...]